Crude oil prices were down on Wednesday as crude oil inventories in the U.S. are estimated to increase much higher than the market expectation.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $22.61 per barrel at 0620 GMT for a 4.9% loss after closing the previous session at $23.78 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $18.52 a barrel at the same time for a 7.6% decline after ending Tuesday at $20.05 per barrel.

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. are estimated to have increased by 10.48 million barrels for the week ending March 28, according to the country's American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday. The market expectation was a 4 million barrels of increase.

On the demand side, coronavirus (Covid-19) spread around the world continues to keep global oil consumption low, keeping pressure on crude prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that the next two weeks will be "very painful" for the country in terms of deaths from the novel coronavirus.

The number of people in the U.S. who have died from the novel coronavirus has surpassed the 4,000 mark, according to data released early Wednesday by Johns Hopkins University.

There are 859,796 confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide and 42,341 deaths, the data showed.